Christmas at the Botanical Gardens

As Christmas rapidly approaches I am always filled with a sense of tradition. One of the traditions that my college friends have kept is getting everyone together for a Christmas outing, which often includes coming home to Fordham to see the Botanical Gardens Holiday Train Show. The train show runs through January 9th this year in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. My Fordham friends are not the only alumni that enjoy returning to the Garden. Fordham alum, Aurelio Zucco is publishing I’m Dreaming of a Bronx Christmas which features the Botanical Gardens.

Even though I’d been to the Botanical Gardens dozens of times, I did not know anything about Enid A. Haupt. While I was waiting on line across from a carefully constructed model of the Statue of Liberty, I read that she was an avid horticulturalist and through her philanthropy she saved the Botanical Gardens from being demolished. However, she was also editor and chief of Seventeen Magazine. Publishing is everywhere!

Soon the lines dissipated inside the heart of the conservatory and we were free to mill about looking at the amazing creations out of twigs and bark that make up New York City landmarks.

One of my favorites is the Edgar Allen Poe house, which I remember seeing as a little girl when the exhibit was outside. I love the way the gnarled porch wound around the house and small berries framed the windows. I’ve never been to the actual house, which is located on the Grand Concourse and East Kingsbridge Road.

This year, my friend’s daughter saw the train show for the first time. It’s always great to see how children react. Life is still magical for them and she loved watching the trains weave around Yankee Stadium, the New York Public Library, and of course, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

I myself am always amazed at the bridges that are so carefully constructed. The Brooklyn Bridge is as stunning as a well-crafted miniature as it is in life-size stone.

Fordham University Press, a member of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) since 1938, was established in 1907 not only to represent and uphold the values and traditions of the University itself, but also to further those values and traditions through the dissemination of scholarly research and ideas.